Looking ahead to constantly improve and modernize something isn’t always the answer to the problems we face in today’s world. And this includes beekeeping.

Many beekeepers always want to have “a better beehive.” They want something even more modern that has the latest advances. But I think in many instances the answers come from stepping back and seeing how things where done in the past.

I recently happened across this old photo from rural Jamaica in the 1880s. What caught my attention was the building technique for the house—wattle and daub. Bamboo is woven and then covered with mud to make the walls of these simple houses. This is a technique I had the chance to experiment with for making economical hive boxes. It meant taking the old and using it for something new.

Conserving wild bees

Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.